Nireiki
by Sarcastic Tofu
Summary: Under mysterious circumstances Uchiha Madara meets a young Naruto. AU. Not Yaoi/Yuri. Slow build-up.
1. Chapter one: The Soldier made of Tin

**[Rant: I do not own: Naruto. But I own volume one of 'Nightmare Inspector', which is an utterly amazing story ('Tis one of my favorite mangas). I do own my characters, and...the plot. And no, there are no Yaoi/Yuri pairings in this story or any other story of mine nor will there ever be. **

_-Now the timepiece has been set and the story begins._

_It is:_

_Five and a half months before the graduation of the rookie nine._

_Six years too late to close the gate that shattered the child in the mirror._

_Three Minutes until fate reroutes its course._

_But like I said, time starts…_

…_Now…-_

_-.:Nireiki:.-_

-.: Chapter One :: The Soldier made of Tin :.—

-.: _Timekeeper{ noun} an instrument or person that measures the passage of time. In addition it records time, time taken, or time remaining :_.-

As if it were a natural metronome winter rain dripped down at a slow, methodic tempo onto the bustling streets of Konohagakure filling the air with the gentle sound of raindrop crashing against the cement and wood of buildings. Near silent peacefulness.

However, it was too quiet today thought the vessel of the nine tailed demon fox as he brushed a lock of wet spiky blond hair from his eyes. He could never quite explain why silence held an unmatched dread in his heart.

Perhaps it was because it so reminded him of the villagers soundless and hateful eyes. Perhaps it was because in the quiet of his childhood this was always filled with the hidden eyes of Anbu operatives that Naruto's heightened senses could hear and smell, but his cerulean eyes could never find.

Perhaps it was some other reason entirely.

But whatever the reason a single thought arose to the jinchuuriki, _the stillness had to be filled and this he could accomplish so easily…Yes, that is what he would do to retain his sanity…_

-xXx-

A thousand flecks of rain splattered the fogged glass as the child rubbed a hole through the condensed vapor on a fourth floor window of the Hokage tower with a gloved hand in an attempt to peek out at the village below. The streets were flooded with multicolored circular splotches that he assumed where umbrellas. He rubbed his obsidian eyes lightly and brushed away few strands of his pale blond hair, trying to center all of his focus into seeing the beautiful shapes that danced in the streets below. No, it wasn't the umbrellas his eyes attended to so vigilantly. It was the twirling fluidness of the gaseous energy that floated haphazardly about each individual as they carried about their goings on in the roadway. It was a spectacular moving painting that his eyes alone could see, the auras of these complete strangers-

"Madara has your mind wandered off again?"

The child heaved an annoyed sigh as he turned from the display towards the lord Hokage. Oh how he hated the civilian council and the ninja elders and the silver haired jounin who had handed him that damn letter. Because of them he was trapped here in this tower to await a dull and monotonous future of paperwork and spell-checking.

"No Sarutobi-**dono** my thoughts are based in reality as always", replied the blond in a sarcastic yet impassive tone.

The leader of the ninja village tilted the brim of his infamous four-sided hat as he peered at the child's stern gaze. He looked incredibly reserved for someone of only nine years, the stress lines under his vacant eyes were a constant reminder of this fact as was the antique bronze pocket watch that hung from an elongated chain around his neck like a pendulum. The elder ninja then rested a hand just below his lower lip in philosophical habit.

"I was just saying that apparently Naruto has pulled another prank on the Anzai dango shop again and the owners are requesting that I personally see that vandalism before they consider pressing charges. Although seeing as the paperwork today is particularly steep I was considering sending you in my place. Do you have any thoughts on the matter?"

The child's dark eyes veered towards the window once more, "It would be nice to get out of this reformatory for the sane on such an exquisite day", he wistfully replied.

Sarutobi Hiruzen gave a light smile as he returned to the documents on his desk at present. "I'm glad to see you are so cheerful for once Madara, I'll expect you back before four o'clock."

The fair haired child stood up from his perch zipping up on a charcoal colored sweater over standard ninja mesh, retying the ends of his hitai-ite around his neck, and picking up the china red umbrella propped against the door frame as he sauntered out the open office door.

"Farewell 'flue-sama', I'm sure this will be interesting to say the least."

The Hokage gave an acknowledging nod of the head as he listened to the quiet metallic sound of the nine year old's footsteps. How the stringent little boy had come up with such an odd nickname he would never know.

* * *

Madara wandered in deaf silence through the streets of Konoha, twirling his oriental styled umbrella as he narrowly avoided puddles and fellow pedestrians. To anyone else the blank look upon his young face would be a sign of annoyance towards the drenching weather; however, this was quite the opposite. The child was actually bubbling with an unusual warmness that he could be out in the rain instead of stuck inside doing miserable paperwork. Here he could observe the transient splendor of the energy signatures of the goers by close up.

He had been able to see and feel these auras as far back as he could remember, all the way back to the days when he used to live in a farming village with his parents and little brother on the border between the land of grass and the land of fire when he was still a toddler. He could still visualize the opaque glow that enveloped his mother's feminine form. It was a light pink like blended strawberries and milk and highlighted her mid-length saffron hair that she always kept tied in loose plaits. Her rosy smile-

_No_, came the empty echo from within his head. _They're _gone_. Nothing will ever change that. _

Subconsciously, he began to rap the ends of his gloved fingers against the wood of his umbrella listening for the familiar clanking of muffled metal against timber. This was his ever constant reminder of his mistake that day. The day he had lost everything and any future that was not knotted in war and tragedy.

The blond quickly shoved these thoughts to the back of his mind where he could suppress their demonic heads as he closed his umbrella and grasped the brass handle of the Anzai dango shop. As he stepped inside into the cozy store all ideas of this simple task going smoothly were shattered as he was immediately bombarded by an angry employee.

"Excuse me, but this store is not for little children so run along home kid," she voiced snottily. She wore a creamy white apron with the store's logo embroidered in bright vermilion stitching along the edges over her mesh top and short violet skirt. Her hair was tucked into a messy bun with to embellished chopsticks to hold it in place although several locks of her parse hair threatened to dangle in her eyes. She crossed her arms agitatedly awaiting an answer.

"I'm here on behalf of the Hokage. You asked for a personal examination of the defacement of your property," replied Madara evenly, his voice tinged with specks of aggravation. "However if you would rather simply kick me out of your store for doing my job, that is fine as well."

The employee shot him a death glare, "This way then."

Madara glanced about the shop as he was lead to the backroom where anything needed for making the store's delectable desserts was housed. The sparse crowd of customers sat at about rounded tables quietly murmuring conversations to one another as they ate their meals in near silence. If you hadn't seen the sugary treats you might have guessed it was a library, but this was disproved the moment you stepped into storeroom.

To put it neatly, it was absolute chaos. Smashed fruit and various other flavorings covered the walls in a Technicolor of abstract art and sticky dough was spread at random through out the room. A particularly large clump of the stuff had even been rolled into a thin chain link and strung near the ceiling in festival style. But the most obvious and blaring of the vandalism was the giant chibi Naruto scrawled on the back wall in what the child hoped was blackberry jelly.

"That little demon must have come snuck in during lunch and done all of this", snarled the angry employee with a tang of bitterness, "I bet he-"

However, her thought was never finished as her gaze caught the actions of the reserved child. The young blond briefly tossed her the look a teacher might give a student who had just said that the sky was neon orange with purple polka-dots before his atrous orbs reconnected to the thin ninja standard metal wire in his palm. Disturbances of the flour covered floor indicated it had messily been left behind by the prankster. But she didn't remember seeing that earlier, or did she?

The child's voice was clipped and serious as he examined the evidence and carefully stepped around the small room breathing in every detail. "Assumptions made on flimsy evidence and uncertain circumstances are as good as no assumptions at all. It is very unlikely that that Uzumaki-san would make collaborated this prank together and left this string behind to frame himself. It is more likely that this set up by someone else in a miserable attempt to recreate one of his high jinks and get him reprimanded for such."

The employee's eyes remained narrow, but nonetheless her head nodded slightly as she considered all of the ramen-addict's previous pranks she had seen close-up. They all had a machine like efficiency, no wasted energy or effort on the prankster's part and all of the (not so) hilarious results on the prank-ed.

Her voice came as a quiet grumble reluctant to admit her hasty conclusion, "I…suppose that might be what happened…"

The child's dark eyes caught her own for a half second as he spoke. In that fraction of a second she could have sworn she saw the somber look an artist might have upon seeing that their prized masterpiece had been burned.

"I'll be taking my leave then."

The young woman gave a slight nod and stared after the child who re-gripped the wooden handle of his umbrella firmly and turned to leave.

"Wait!" she found herself saying as his left hand extended towards the door knob to the pouring rain outside, "Would you like to buy something before you go?"

He paused for a moment.

"Do you have any tea?"

"Green, White, Black and Oolong", came the employee's hesitant reply.

He was at the front desk in a matter of seconds.

"Some White tea please."

* * *

Steam wafted from his clay cup and blew into Madara's eyes as he weaved through the crowded streets Konohagakure juggling a half-drained tea cup and his oriental umbrella between both hands desperately trying not to drop either of the two.

Thrice curse his caffeine addiction to hell,

And the idiot who could never seem to file the building codes into the right file cabinet, and a very **very** long list of people the child found particularly troublesome.

But at least he had momentarily escaped the monotony of the Hokage tower for a few hours and avoided filling out any more paper work on the notorious troublemaker that was Uzumaki Naruto. The abnormal messiness of this particular prank seemed highly unusual for the container of the nine tailed fox, but it had presented the perfect opportunity for a half-truth and no doubt the preteen would be grateful for not being forced to scrub the Hokage building again or worse…be given the **delightful **task of wrangling that miserable cat, Tora, whom the village pariah had already caught (and been nearly clawed to death in the process) thirty-four time exactly. He had checked Uzumaki's file earlier this very morning and read so himself.

The nine year old's eyes drifted hawkishly along the skyline hunting for the tell-tale sign of a fading aura trail. If Uzumaki had planted this rather messy prank there would definitely be some sort of evidence and his personal energy signature was the most credible of all. Like invisible finger prints everyone, even identical twins, had different auras each gaseous energy field a reflection of its individual and as such contained easily identifiable markers. Wisps of leaking chakra. Unique pallor or hue. Even how long an aging aura trail remained were all remarkably useful to one with this atypical and anomalous ability of his. This eternal fact had already been proved beyond the shadow of a doubt to Madara hundreds of times on locate-and-retrieval missions.

_There!_

Hovering akin to thinning smog over the roof top of the Yamanaka flower shop trailed Naruto's cesious aura tainted with tiny embers of vermillion. Madara's cold black eyes pursued the cloud over the skyline of Konoha's rooftops until he found its source right above his head.

-xXx-

_CRASH!_

'_What happened? And why does my head hurt?'_

As the world spun about the jinchuuriki like he was on a gigantic merry-go-round the young Uzumaki shook his head a few times trying regaining his balance before plummeting to the concrete once more.

No wait; there was something in the way…or more specifically _someone_. The blond blinked several times as everything came back into focus. He had been climbing out on the awning of the ninja supply store reaching just a little too far over to snag a polished steel kunai from its open case that teetered dangerously on the stores canopy. All had been going well until a soft clanking of metal had startled him causing him to lose his stability and plunge down one and a half stories…onto whoever this was.

Naruto shakily sat up analyzing the person who had broken his fall as he did so. He was about a head and a half shorter than Naruto, only about nine or ten at the most, and had spiky hair of a dull blond color that turned pale gray where the light hit it. Beneath his closed eyes where stress lines and a slight discoloration of the pale skin he guessed was from several sleepless nights. However his time to scrutinize his target was immediately cut short.

"Uzumaki-san, get off of me before you squish me to death any further."

The startled blond involuntarily twitched as he quickly hopped off the pedestrian and stumbled backwards into the cemented alleyway wall. How did this person know his name? He'd certainly never met the kid before!

"Listen, I'm really sorry I sort of…umm…fell on you," the jinchuuriki spluttered as he extended his right hand to shake, "And well…I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I'm going to be Hokage someday!"

His target slowly sat up and carefully braced himself against the alleyway wall as well vigilantly re-examined his surroundings. The village pariah alerted his senses as he watched the child take a numerous deep breaths. The target, as Naruto had begun to think of him as, had an impassive expression on his young face that perfectly synchronized with his emotionless and semi-formal way of speaking. But the thing that struck him the most was this kid's eyes.

They were a pupil-less blank obsidian that had an eerily haunting quality like voids into a parallel dimension; so dissonantly alike his own sharp blue eyes that it frightened him. Cold and sad, spilling over with solitude and a something else he couldn't think of a word for…

Suddenly the child's dark orbs locked with his own snaring him in a lethally invisible trap.

"Prove it."

'_What is he talking about, dattebayo?'_wondered Naruto momentarily.

"Huh?"

The pale haired child took a slow deep breath before restating his question to the elder blond. His tone was an even calm that startlingly enough lacked the villagers' absolute loathing at for the demon vessel.

"What makes you any more worthy of becoming Hokage than any of the other ninja in this village?"

Naruto stared in perplexity for a moment as he absorbed the question. The reactions of the villagers had also been in one of three categories. There were those out rightly despised him or sought indirect sabotage through seemingly innocent guises of wanting to bring their child home because 'dinner would be ready soon and grandfather hates to wait', even though grandfather had died the year before. Others simply ignored him pretending the troublemaker wasn't anything more than a figment of their imagination. And finally there was a select few who encouraged him to shoot for his dream and prove everyone wrong; this was Ayame, her father, and the lord Hokage. But this boy seemed to fall into his own category. He wasn't angry and didn't try to ignore the young Uzumaki. However, he didn't happily praise him in the fashion of his three peers. What was the word for this?

"I-I-I'm gonna learn loads of powerful jutsu once I graduate!" Naruto retorted attempting to regain his shaken confidence.

The child raised an eyebrow and picked up his bright red umbrella that he had dropped when Naruto had crash-landed on him and using the end brushed shards of his shattered teacup to the edge of the alley so pedestrians wouldn't tread upon them.

"And how do you expect to graduate by skipping school? I sincerely doubt any sensei would take a delinquent under their wing who doesn't care about their education."

Naruto half-stuttered, half-shouted a reply, "I-I'm not a de- whatever you said! And I **will **be Hokage so there!"

The young boy unhurriedly stood up keeping himself slightly braced against the wall as he did so.

"Being vainglorious of skills you lack will get you killed in battle Uzumaki-san. Perhaps that is-"

But his thoughts were cut-off as he bent over slightly and his right hand rising to his mouth while he began violently coughing into his cupped palm. Each of his rasps sounding worse than the last as if he were an invalid gasping for his last breaths.

It felt like Naruto's world froze over as he watched the kid only a few years younger than himself continue soughing. He recognized the faint smell that leaked into the air as the coughs persisted.

_Blood._

There was no mistaking that metallic iron smell it always gave off.

"Hey, are you okay? Did I squish you too hard? Should I go get a doctor?" came the academy student's insecure rapid-fire questions.

The pale blond tried to shake his head and protest between coughs.

"I'm quite –**Cough**- _alright_. _I don't need a _-**Cough**- medic."

He gave one final wheeze before lightly wiping something off of his lips and pocketing the hand he had coughed into within a compartment of his sweater. His posture returned to normal and he turned once again cutting off the blond who had once again begun to mutter condoling reassurances.

"-it's okay! I know this one nurse who's half way decent who lives a few blocks from here and-"

"Uzumaki-san, I am not a porcelain doll nor do I wish to be treated as such. I would however appreciate it if you stopped babbling."

"-But but-" spluttered Naruto confusedly. His cerulean eyes flooding over with the desire to help this stranger whom he had never known in his life yet wanted so dearly to give the aid he had never been given in his own childhood.

"Babbling, to babble, verb, to utter sounds that have no meaning or importance. If I am troubling you so, I'll leave you to your...sky diving."

The younger blond then opened his umbrella and turned as if to leave.

"Whatever potential you may have will be wasted if you just stand there chattering Uzumaki-san. I suggest you get to class before you use up your prospective abilities on pulling pranks that only make you the target of the villagers wrath."

The stranger then strolled calmly from the side street like the highly unordinary event had never taken place at all leaving Naruto Uzumaki alone to his thoughts.

_Who does he think he is? He's sick, but he's definitely a lot stronger than me. Probably already in the graduating class or something-"_

And then one thought rose above the others.

Why did he feel so bad about what that little kid had said? He didn't know him at all and yet it felt like the child's unimpressed and critical statements had penetrated to his soul deeper than any of the Hokage's warm praise. Naruto's eyes narrowed.

_I'll prove him wrong. I **will **be Hokage! I just have to find a teacher..._

-xXx-

The smallest of smirks tugged at Akakonoha no Madara's lips as he walked in a steadied pace among the crowds of merchants and customers in the roadways. How stupid of the academy teachers and his peers not to notice the blond jinchuuriki's potential as a loyal shinobi. Everyone needed something to believe in to keep themselves sane and this child had nothing and no one at all to save him from his loneliness. Perhaps...perhaps Madara could be that person, Naruto's aly, after all Madara needed a subordinate in what was to come. Yes, in time perhaps the elder blond could awaken the enormous potential within himself and join the comrade's cause...but now Madara was getting ahead of himself. First he had give Naruto a little test. An exam to determine the Uzumaki heir's future...

* * *

**{YAY Chapter one done at nine pages! *happy author dance* Please review and tell me whether or not I should**

**A. Continue damn it!**

**B. Scrap it. Burn it. Throw it down a well**

**or **

**C. other; not really sure if there is an other though...**

**Just review please! X3**

**-Also! I'm looking for a beta reader! [my spelling skills suck.]}**


	2. Chapter two: Trial of the Marionette

**[Rant: I don't own Naruto & co. nor will I ever or may lawyers eat my brain and my neighbor's car keys. I do own my characters (on my page) including Madara and any minor character OCs and the plot.**

**Terms & Etc.**

**- Aoi: (name) meaning 'blue' or 'indigo']**

**-Hitai-ate: (ninja gear) a forehead protector indicating ninja status**

-.: Nireiki :.-

-.: Chapter Two :: Trial of the Marionette :.-

-.:Credulous {adjective} ready to believe especially on slight or uncertain evidence:.-

Naruto slurped his steaming ramen with much relish as he half listened to whatever it was Ayame had been chattering on about for the past ten minutes or so about. Something about a masked Jounin she'd met at the Ichiraku Ramen stall a few days ago with his nose buried in a book. It sounded very odd to say the least to the demon container. Then again he never had paid much attention to the ramen chef's daughter's daily drabbles, they always made his head hurt with her perplexing logic. But oh well, on with his ramen!

It was a cool evening in early October, roughly a week since the incident with the stranger in the alley and several days before his birthday. The chilling rain that had swept around the hidden leaf village had briefly paused from its tirade allowing a final a day of fair weather before an early winter set in on Konohagakure in all its furry. Naruto had even managed to find his neon orange umbrella that now lay propped against his stool at an angle in time before the heavy rain settled into the land. After all, everyone, even the jinchuuriki All knew that unlike in the picture books, winters in the land of fire where marked by cold rainfall and high winds. Almost never snow.

"-And he just did this weird eye grin and laughed and then-"

"Umm, Ayame?" interrupted Naruto, "What does this have to do with Mondays again?"

The brunette paused from her antics a thoughtful expression eclipsing her features and her right thumb resting lightly on her lips whilst she pondered.

"Ya' know, now I can't even remember…BUT I HATE THAT GUY!"

The jinchuuriki sweat dropped before returning to his dinner once more. Sometimes Ayame was so childish. Not that he could say so, earlier that day he himself had fallen asleep during another of Iruka-sensei's boring lectures.

His brow now furrowed and cerulean eyes clouded over as the stranger's words replayed quietly in his head.

"_And how do you expect to graduate by skipping school? I sincerely doubt any sensei would take a delinquent under their wing who doesn't care about their education."_

He had gone to the academy everyday this week and had even sat after hours making up for detentions he'd skip, but still his conscience wasn't satisfied.

'_Why should I care what some stranger thinks? I'll probably never ever see him again anyway.'_

But fate had already decided against this and prompted proved the blond wrong.

"Hey! Look at that mommy it's a pretty kite!" called a small child to her mother as they paused on the sidewalk directly behind Naruto.

Naruto turned on his stool wondering briefly what the little kid was carrying on about when he saw it as well.

It's serpentine form twisting and somersaulting seemingly moving of its own accord in the evening wind high over the heads of the pedestrians in the roadway. Unlike normal kites that could be seen flying from rooftops of Konoha during the summer months this one had a cylinder base and was covered in a thin aqua-green fabric that shimmered and glowed in the lantern light of buildings.

It swooped airily a few more times. Now everyone on the street had stopped to stare at the spectacle with wide eyes and several mouths hanging slightly ajar. Now the leviathan, that's what Naruto guessed it was, pulled into a tight spin gaining speed as it climbed higher into the sky. Each person's eyes focused with anticipation as the kite peaked to the top of its ascendant freezing mid-second and then plummeting into a free fall for the Hokage tower.

"Get out of the way it's gonna crash!"

"Why aren't the Anbu doing anything about it? Is there an invasion?"

But just as all of the onlookers were about to panic the most unexpected thing happened.

A human sized shadow tossed a medium sized scroll into the air above the tower's roof instantaneously releasing a large reverse summoning seal above the onlookers' heads and swallowing the kite whole in a predetermined finale.

The street was silent for a full minute before someone spoke.

"What the hell…" said a wide eyed shop keeper. Others echoed his comment until angry shouting erupted among the civilians.

"So some psycho thinks it's okay to practice whatever the hell kind of Ninjutsu they want in city limits? I'm calling the police!"

"I thought all of the professional puppeteers were in Sunagakure," muttered an elderly ninja.

"No," replied his companion, "I think I heard about one of them here who wound up in Anbu; probably retired now though."

"What ashame there are so few puppeteers around these days."

'_Yeah.'_

Naruto quickly hopped off of his stool slamming his ramen coupon down on the ramen bar counter and darting among the crowd who still hung at a standstill.

"Thanks for the ramen!" he shouted behind him as he pulled his green aviator goggles over his eyes. He bounded over the rooftops towards the Hokage tower. He could place just what it was, but that kite felt so familiar it terrified him. Where had he seen it before? Oh well, this thought was abandoned as the blond picked his pace not bothering to notice the masked ninja tailing him.

-xXx-

From his perch upon one of the many pointed arches of the Hokage tower's roof the chilling evening air swirled around Madara. Beneath him the radiance of village lights began to fade. The hour hand, one of five such arrows on his ever present pocket watch hovered over the 'ten' marker. The puppeteer gazed at the five identical arrows on the clock's face for a moment. During the five years he had lived in Konoha he had never once been questioned about the odd looking device by any of his superiors. Perhaps it was luck that everyone had concluded it was just a weird looking clock. Either way, Madara was pleased for this minor coincidence. There was no need to involve anyone who wasn't necessary in his mission.

Were it not for the village elder standing expectantly on the flat rooftop underneath the arches it might be considered peaceful.

"What do you think you are doing Akakonoha-kun?" asked the figure, invisible malice dripping like winter rain from his seemingly innocent question.

The child of nine years eyes flickered backwards momentarily even though he already recognized the individual by his gruff voice alone. There was no mistaking the cane he constantly leant on, the graying jet black hair, and most importantly the bandages that covered left side of his face.

"Good evening Danzo-san," replied Madara evenly not betraying so much as a hint of his present thoughts, "And as to my actions they speak for themselves."

The village elder frowned trying to digest this information before he continued in his usual cold tone.

"I am not valuable enough to earn a nickname from Konohagakure's resident puppeteer? You couldn't possibly be _planning_ anything now could you my little robotic pawn?"

A tiny mechanical sound could be heard as Madara cracked his knuckles, no doubt the sound of the pins within his hands temporarily moving in and out of place. A frown momentarily hovered over the child's face. Despite his carefulness in hiding his secrets somehow Danzo had managed to find out about the blond's 'uniqueness'. No, not the fact that he kept contact with several well established missing-nin. Nor that in the last year and a half more than a dozen root agents had _mysteriously disappeared_ upon meeting the rogue puppeteer. Danzo had discovered the puppeteer's least important secret. Madara's arms and legs were nothing more than steel replacements. However lifelike they moved they were fraud. But this secret was nothing compared to the puppeteer's true mission or the reason behind his metal limbs.

"I still wonder how a village elder such as you can still have the lack of judgment to mistake artificial life for prosthetic limbs."

"Both are a profanity against nature."

An amused grin, "I'm afraid that's complete shit Danzo-san, is life itself not profane and violent? If humans didn't exist war would never have torn this nation apart in the first place. It's simply idiotic to confuse such impermeable truths."

"Child," now the elder ninja's voice was becoming strained with annoyance and irritation, "Let me make this simple enough for you to understand. If my agents catch you doing anything that might conspire against this village I will personally see to it that you regret the day the council spared your miserable life."

Madara now turned so that his inky black eyes locked on Danzo's single orb.

"In retrospect, if shogi pieces were more lifelike it would only take one move from the pawn placed before the king on your side of the board to end the game. Simply turn around and stab your leader in the back, but that's your plan to become Hokage isn't it?"

A glassy look momentary crossed the child's orbs. _'Too bad it will never work. I'd sooner murder you in cold blood than allow that to happen. I thought I made that painfully clear to those root agents of yours. What a shame that dead shinobi can't deliver messages to their traitorous leaders'_, he pondered thoughtfully.

Danzo's visible eye widened as he watched the assassin in shocked silence.

The young blond now fixed his dark orbs on the sinking horizon repeating a final message before the shadow clone disappeared in a puff of hot steam.

"If I didn't know better _Danzo-san_ I'd say you and your corrupted council were afraid of me, but that's just a guess."

The village elder stood gazing callously for a moment at the empty space Madara had left behind. Damn that little brat. If all went according to plan he would meet very _sticky_ end in the near future, that is, _after_ Danzo had personally extracted the volumes of undisclosed information held within the rogue puppeteer's mind.

-xXx-

Twin sharp blue eyes hurriedly danced about piercing the waning arches of the Hokage building. His breathing growing more hastened with each breath of night air. Tension beginning to set in as the muffled sounds directly behind him grew more apparent. Naruto Uzumaki was a lot of things, but restrained and calculating were not among these qualities. It was becoming more and more difficult to keep himself from falling of the rooftops, getting caught (maybe even killed) by whatever was tailing him and trying to search the village skyline for the dark shadow he had seen dart from the 'old man's tower' following the puppet show in the fading sunlight. _He_ had to be around here somewhere, _he_ just had to! And to top of the prankster's predicament the lantern lights were now all but extinguished and it had begun to rain. So much for trying to bring an umbrella…

A sudden movement in the side street below forced the blond to a sudden and abrupt halt as he jumped down three floors, nearly breaking several bones in the process. Naruto gave an extra burst of speed as he caught up with his target.

'_Dattebayo! That bastard is so getting a piece of my mind!'_

But to his surprise instead of waiting patiently for Naruto the pale blond stranger jolted ahead through the alleyway shadows only pausing a moment to close his china red umbrella and linger a half second for the blond.

"Finally what the hell-", but before he could spit out a word the child interrupted in the same emotionless voice he had used in their previous meeting.

"We are being followed by an elite Jounin. I recommend you keep your mouth shut unless you intend to get caught."

"But-"

"Or more simply, shut the fuck up."

This was enough to force the blond into infuriated silence for a few minutes while his unfamiliar ally thought up a strategy.

The stranger's gloved hands came together forming a simple hand sign Naruto recognized from an academy lecture. He couldn't remember exactly what Iruka-sensei had said it was for, probably something having to do with that awful clone jutsu again, but he had committed to memory the basic principle behind the technique.

Genjutsu.

His worst technique.

The stranger slowly released a small pulse of chakra as the illusion began to take shape and attach itself to the environment. It produced an artificial fog that blurring the edges of buildings together and smearing them with the slowing drizzle of raindrops as their forms, Naruto's and that of the unknown child, merged with their surroundings literally hiding them in plain sight.

-xXx-

Their pursuer came to a sudden halt, his visible eye darting about trying to relocate his charge, the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. He muttered something under his breath although the mask that hid the lower half of his face made the noise inaudible. He had been given this mission numerous times in the past eleven years. It was quite simple really. Just to watch the blond child and make sure no harm came to him, Stay hidden at all times, and above all else don't be seen by the jinchuuriki or any villagers.

Hatake Kakashi let out a sigh as he uncovered his blood red Sharingan and skimmed the horizon once more to no avail. No bright blue chakra in the dark streets of Konoha. Not a sound of footsteps or hastened breathing echoed in the damp air.

Where had Naruto Uzumaki gone?

Kakashi Hatake recovered his infamous eye muttering a curse under his breath whilst doing so then disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

-xXx-

For about five minutes they waited in the illusion. It felt like ten because Naruto was already fairly drenched from the rain and set on edge with stress.

"W-Who was that?" the blond finally asked in a hushed whisper.

The younger blond once again formed a simple hand sign this time to release his jutsu.

"A particularly troublesome Jounin with a habit of underestimating me", came his stoic reply, "It's actually quite annoying."

Naruto stood beside his ally in silence as he mulled this over before he noticed the red umbrella elevated over his head shielding him from the little rain that still fell.

"Why are you doing that?"

"Because you are soaking wet. Even my patience has limits and dragging you to the hospital because you came down with pneumonia is not on my agenda."

"Umm…Thanks I guess."

"Hn. Now are you coming or what?"

Naruto tilted his head in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

The child rolled his eyes pointing in the direction of the Hokage tower near Naruto's apartment. The district had become enclouded in a thick gray smoke only illuminated by a few embers of torch light.

"To put it bluntly it would be reckless to go home with those idiots waiting for you."

"So where should I go?"

"If you're willing to stand my psychotic neighbor I have a spare sleeping bag you could use."

"Uh, okay I guess. Wait! How do I know you're not leading me to some dark alley so you can murder me?"

"We're already in a dark alley, and if I had wanted you dead you would already be so. Now hurry up, I can't stand laziness," snapped the nine year old.

Naruto quickly regained his footing and stumbled blindly through the dark crashing into several walls in the process prior to finding the younger blond waiting impatiently near the edge of the alley. The blond gave a fox-like grin whilst the child grumbled something unintelligible. Though Naruto from the little he had been able to pick up with his heightened hearing he caught several particularly foul sounding curses of foreign origin.

This was bound to be interesting to say the least.

A few stars shone in the nighttime skies as the pair strode through the empty streets of Konohagakure. The only sounds that purged the quiet air were that of wind chimes clinking softly on the wind…that and Naruto's incessant chatter.

-"Say chibi-san, why Anbu wear animal masks anyway?"

"It is fairly common for ninja to use intimidation tactics to gain an edge over their enemy. Masks are one such way to do so."

"That's the only reason? Umm…Who are the legendary sannin? You know, their names and skills?"

"Of the three sannin there are Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya. Tsunade is a specialist of medicine and holds a summoning contract with the slugs. Orochimaru is one of two who hold a pact with the snakes. He was recognized as a genius at a young age and his skills lie in forbidden jutsu and his unethical experimentation on humans. Jiraiya has an accord with the toads and knows a large number of their techniques. He is also considerably skilled in sealing, Ninjutsu, and attaining information from his spy network."

"Wow."

"I suppose so."-

It hadn't taken long for the Uzumaki to discover that unlike Sakura-chan and his other peers who made fun of him for not knowing social rules and basic familiarity with things as simple as chakra, the young blond didn't mind answering Naruto's never ending barrage of questions. If fact he encouraged it. To this child it was okay to admit you didn't understand something. A single notion in itself that was a revolutionary concept to the Uzumaki and forced new curious thoughts to the surface of his mind. This simple something that shook a truth at the core of Naruto's sheltered world was something not even the Hokage was courageous enough to attempt for fear of a backlash from the villagers.

As if this in itself was not enough for the village pariah to wrap his mind around, his ally seemed to have an encyclopedia-like knowledge of every topic Naruto could think of. However, unlike Iruka-sensei who droned on for hours on a subject the child had the good sense not to compete with the Uzumaki's attention span. Not yet anyway.

Needless to say Naruto bombarded the stranger with queries along the entire walk to "_chibi-san's_" apartment on the far side of Konoha near the shinobi training grounds.

"We're here already?" came the elder blond's surprised tone as he all but crashed into chibi-san upon reaching said destination.

"Hn", was the stranger's stoic reply as he pulled open the front door of the building, still holding the china red umbrella aloft in his left hand offering Naruto to step inside.

Unlike his own apartment building the younger blond's was an uncommon rectangular shape with three floors and fit snuggly between its neighbors, a ninja supply store and a bakery. It was probably one of the older buildings of the village, pre-building boom, as proved by the dark wooden shingles that threatened to slide off the roof at any moment. The outer walls were in much the same condition, a worn yellow paint that had not aged particularly gracefully. Seamless steel pipes ran the length of the building giving off plumes of hot steam every few minutes. Aside from the long chains of bells that hung from a third floor balcony this was the only modern touch to the aged structure.

"Which floor do you live on?"

"The third, my sadist neighbor lives on the right unit and I the left. My landlord occupies the ground floor where he can keep an eye on us. The second floor is catch-all storage of the worst variety."

Naruto suppressed laughter as he imagined whoever this crazy neighbor of chibi-san's was as well as the rest of the complex's interior.

"Are you sure your parents won't mind?" continued the blond warily echoing his ally's steps to avoid the many creaky spots on the decaying stairs.

"I thought we established that less than an hour ago. My family is dead and I have a firm policy of not repeating myself. In the future I won't be so lenient Uzumaki-san."

"You don't need to be so formal all the time ya' know. Just 'Naruto' will do."

"Hn."

"'Hn' doesn't qualify as an answer!"

"_Aa_", Chibi-san smirked, "Target reached Uzumaki-Naruto-san."

This earned an especially annoyed glare on the jinchuuriki's part whilst his ally began to fumble in his jacket pockets for his key.

_Right pocket_, No keys.

_Left pocket_, No keys.

_Pants pockets? _No keys_._

_Door mat? _Still no keys_._

_Buried in the bottom of goddamn fucking neighbor's flower pots! _**Of course**...

Naruto watched in cautious fascination as chibi-san plucked the soil covered keys from a terracotta pot of fiery red tiger lilies. Then, glaring at the floor and cursing under his breath as he did so, shoved it into the lock and marched into his apartment to make a cup of white tea. Obviously whoever his neighbor was either was gutsy enough to attempt the feat or just plain stupid.

As the Uzumaki followed in after his ally glancing briefly at the quietly fuming child now searching the kitchen cabinets for his tea kettle which had also _mysteriously disappeared _he assumed that said neighbor was a combination of the two.

"_-__Anko Mitarashi keep your damned self out of my apartment before I'm convicted of voluntary manslaughter-_"

Yep. This neighbor was definitely psychotic on her own level.

Naruto now turned from chibi-san towards the entry way wall, giving the younger blond some time to cool off. The wall was absolutely plastered with photographs, sketches, and snibblets of paper with odd messages thus giving it the look of a collage threatening to devour the drywall.

The first photograph that caught his eye was at the very center of the patchwork and was roughly the size of his hand. It was a colored portrait of a four person ninja cell, Genin perhaps? At the back center was the squad leader, _Kakashi Hatake_, a man in his twenties or so with premature silver hair and a mask that covered the lower half of his face. Though his right eye was covered by his hitai-ate, his visible eye crinkled in an expression of suppressed snickering as he gazed at the other three ninja on the team. Farthest right was chibi-san wearing his signature blank look. The only differences between the child in the picture and the one preparing white tea were several centimeters in height and the chibi-san of the present had slightly longer hair. Farthest left was a boy about a year younger than chibi-san. Unlike his teammates his exposed eye was a bright amber that contrasted with his spiky sable hair and the white medic-style eye patch the covered his left eye. He wore simple slacks and a charcoal t-shirt with his clan's insignia stitched on in vermillion thread, a twirling flame design. Below this person was written in curving katana _Akiyama, Indigo_.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at this. It must have been misinterpreted; probably his name was 'Aoi' or something. Who would name their child 'Indigo' of all things?

Centered between the three shinobi was the final member of the squad. She was at most ten years old even though she was barely taller than chibi-san. According to the name inscribed below her she was _Hyuuga, Kalori_.Her long ebony hair was parted to the right mostly covering one of her pale lavender eyes. But there was something odd about those typical pale Hyuga eyes; they were covered by a thin layer of white. She was blind.

"Those are my teammates," said an even voice beside him sipping tea calmly.

The Uzumaki kept his cerulean orbs focused on the photograph as he spoke.

"I-Is that one's name really 'Indigo'?"

"Yes. His mother was a painter and thought that the name suited him perfectly."

"But why didn't she just name him 'Aoi'? That means indigo and doesn't sound so odd."

"She believed that by giving him a unique name he would be more likely to survive as a shinobi."

"Huh?"

"'Aoi' is a fairly common name among both boys and girls. If an order was given to send someone named 'Aoi' into battle it is very likely a mistake could be made and the wrong shinobi could be sent. There are hundreds of 'Aoi's, but only one 'Indigo'."

"That's really smart I guess…"

"Quite possibly."

"Uh, is the one in the middle blind?"

"Yes. She lost her vision when she was two and a half, but she can still remember most colors and some shapes."

"How did she get accepted into the academy? I thought we were supposed to go through a screening process or something."

"Actually Kalori applied to take the graduation exam when she was five to avoid the screening process. She failed the written portion of the test, but her high scores on the practical application portion allowed her to pass."

"Hey chibi-san, if those are your teammates that means you're a ninja too right?"

The pale blond child just continued drinking his tea as if he hadn't heard the question.

"I said-"

"I heard you the first time."

Naruto scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion. It's not like it was a hard question, just yes or no would suffice.

"So are you a ninja or not?"

"Of a sort."

"What does that mean?"

"Yes, I am a ninja," muttered chibi-san in a slightly aggravated tone. He always hated being asked this question by his peers. It always launched into a series of inquiries that he refused to answer…they were too painful to give an appropriate response to anyway.

The elder blond decided this would be an excellent time not to push his luck, swiftly changing the subject.

"Where'd you say your extra sleeping bag was again?"

"I didn't. It's this way."

With that chibi-san strode over to a bright red door beside the refrigerator, Naruto tailing behind him quietly.

"The cobalt door is the bathroom, the yellow ocher is the study, and the tomato colored door is the bedroom."

Naruto gave a stiff nod committing this system to memory.

The room behind the warmly painted red door was in a mostly barren state. The only furniture it held was a medium sized oak armoire of humble origin which held chibi-san's bed roll, some pillows, the sleeping bag, and of all things a large sketchbook and some pencils that were an odd shade of grey. 'Charcoal' later explained the nine year old 'was very good for shading'. The demon container turned a few circles around the sparsely used room and used the ends of his standard shinobi sandals to draw in the dust that covered the floor while his ally organized their supplies.

"Do you prefer camping in the study or the kitchen?" said the younger blond indifferently.

The prankster's hand came to his chin as he thought over the two options. Thinking, normal a strenuous activity he avoided, somehow didn't seem so bad now that he had had some practice.

"Study, definitely."

The study wouldn't be as dusty right?

Well yes, sort of…

True it turned out that the small library concealed by the yellow door was cleaner than the bedroom dust-wise, but the room itself was another story entirely. Scrolls, thick tomes, and other papers littered with scribbled notes or rough sketches were crammed in every available nook and cranny of the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves that lined two of the four walls and many documents spilled out over the rectangular table at the center of the room. In one corner of the library sat three very large scrolls marked 'supplies', 'projects' and '**do not touch**'. Along this wall maps of the five great shinobi nations as well as the smaller countries were marked with red ink that indicated locations for missions and other such notes. The only semi-blank wall was the one directly opposite the door which was mostly occupied by a window overlooking the neighboring bakery. The wall itself was mostly covered with mathematical equations, odd scrawls of questions and various other things in several different colors of ink which made the wall look as though it were covered in the most bizarre wallpaper even imagined.

"Wow," came Naruto's critiquing of the study, "Just wow."

The child gave a shrug as he leaned the bed roll and other supplies against a bookcase and began pushing three chairs off to the edges of the room. The Uzumaki hurriedly joined in the tidying up by tugging the table to a place below the window.

"Is that okay?" he panted. After all, the table was quite heavy due to its top layer of…well; Naruto didn't really know what to call it…

"Yes, that's fine."

"Geez, why is everything so…"

"Chaotic? I like to keep it this way. I find it's very good for thinking."

The elder blond dismissed the somewhat odd reason as he slipped off his sandals and aviator goggles and slithered into the extra sleeping bag.

"Thanks…"

Then it hit him. He had never asked chibi-san what his real name was. As if reading his mind the younger blond replied stoically.

"My name is Akakonoha no Madara by the way."

As Madara turned off the lights and hid within his own bed Naruto mulled this bit of information over.

Akakonoha no: of the red leaves.

Madara: Spotted or speckled.

It seemed so eerily familiar. Where had he heard that name before?

But the last Uzumaki didn't have much time to search through his memories, for his tired mind had already drifted off to sleep.

-xXx-

Despite the ease in which his guest had fallen asleep Madara lay awake for several hours keeping watch from the library window. His obsidian orbs narrowed as they honed in on the vivid green energy field the glowed faintly just outside the neighboring store. The figure had disguised himself in a henge jutsu, but despite the visual transformation his aura hadn't altered in the slightest. No matter his impressive skills with illusions the 'copy ninja' couldn't fool Madara's eyes.

_'Maybe that damned Kakashi will learn to mind his own business one of these days_,' pondered the blond, '_Though I highly doubt it.'_

However his old sensei's nosiness had played to the child's advantage this time. Due to the masked ninja's carelessness he had been able to observe some of Naruto's skills at a relatively close range. Among the largely unpolished techniques he positively supernatural stamina and sensory perception, probably a boon from his demon prisoner. Though from what little he had seen the puppeteer knew the last of the Uzumaki need a substantial amount of practicing to make up for his abysmal style of taijutsu if could even be called that, complete inability to create or dispel genjutsu despite how easily he noticed them, and his ninjutsu which was all but nonexistent. Madara still had to examine exactly how well he performed in written knowledge, trailing him tomorrow at the academy would be the best option but was overall pleased with his findings.

_Almost no ties at all to the outside world (aside from the ramen shop keepers and the lord Hokage)._

_Below average at best in the ninja arts._

_And last but not least, he was the jinchuuriki of Kyuubi. _

He would make the perfect pupil...but first the rogue puppeteer would have to begin the slow process of bending Uzumaki Naruto away from influence of the village. Away from Danzo and the council of ninja elders to be more specific. But Madara didn't mind the time it would take, after all it was worth the wait...

**{Thirteen pages! *takes break from doing evil history homework to hop about somewhat* **

**Oh!**

***light bulb goes boink!***

**Don't forget to review…**or Madara shall have a very fun time digging your grave! **X3**

**Madara: *glaring at authoress bitterly as he hunts for a shovel***

***Naruto wonders around off-set looking for ramen*}**


	3. Chapter three: Tangled Threads

**{**Happy(ish?) belated birthday Gaara! X3 [It was January 19th.] and Namikaze Minato's on the 25th!

Yet another disclaimer**: Reviews encourage me to update sooner *grinning in Naruto fashion*. I never will own Naruto or any other amazingly awesome anime. Nor will ever be allowed to use the PA button at Wal-Mart. *sigh* But I do own: Madara, my characters, the plot, and _ (insert anything I forgot here).}**

**-Terms & Ect. Posted at the end of the chapter for future reference. Putting them up here is too troublesome.-**

.: Nireiki :.

-.: Chapter three :: Tangled Threads :.—

-.: Imbroglio {noun} A complicated situation; a painful or embarrassing misunderstanding :.-

Balanced against one of the exhaust pipes atop the Konohagakure Ninja Academy, sketch book positioned against his knees for the utmost stability, Madara sat sketching as he waited intolerantly for the school bell to ring and release Naruto from its confines. Such a sight of the puppeteer posed on a high buildingwas quitecommon. After all, the child seemed to poses the oppositeof a fear of heights more akin to a magnetic attraction to them. However, this for location and timingwas most uncharacteristic of him. He was normally bound within the Hokage's office or the immediate vicinity running errands for the Hokage from dawn until dusk, but it seemed for once Madara's monotonous routine had been broken.

What a damn _shame_ flue-sama's mountainous piles of paperwork just _happened_ to be teetering right below the office sprinkler system and the blond radical's hand just _happened_ to bump into the fire alarm handle.

Woops…not that the village leader or his young assistant felt particularly sorry about this state of affairs in the slightest. In fact their twin 'innocent' looks seemed just a _little _too sincere. At the moment the puppeteer was still thanking whatever celestial beings controlled security cameras that they hadn't been caught in the act; him yanking on the handle wholeheartedly and lord Sarutobi waving a match below the sprinkler spout for safe measure. And as if this stroke of luck weren't enough he wasn't scheduled to begin inspections of the civilian prisons until Thursday.

Madara presently darted his eyes from his sketchbook to front doors of the school below vigilantly watching for the doors to burst forward as if being manhandled by a batteringram as it did every school day afternoon. His gaze averted, the blond presently shoving the sketchbook and sharpened pieces of charcoal into the depths of his army green messenger bag then steadied his stance upon the rooftop. Now the countdown to the last minutes of class had initiated.

**Three**.

From within the fortified prison murmured the sound of hushed packing-up and the not-so-quiet cramming of supplies into backpacks.

**Two**.

Whispers of 'what's the homework again?', 'I don't know, but it's long and _bore_-ing', and frustrated grumbles of teachers began to echo through the building like rolling thunder.

**One**.

Scraping of chairs creaked outward from classrooms where students were shoving at each other in an attempt to be the closest to the door.

**Zero**.

The resulting explosion of sound and color forced Madara to clap his hands, gloved as always, over his ears and his eyes to squeeze shut in haste. To the rest of the world this was simply the daily noisy ruckus of the academy letting out, a bit loud perhaps, but nothing major. Students running across the worn grass to parents or friends their chatter infecting the airways with the joy of their day coming to a close.

For the blond child this was complete sensatory overload. His obsidian black eyes blurred as their capacity burst withsmears of dulled tangerine, bright after-it-rains blue, and almost every color in between. The babbling that polluted the surrounding area was nothing compared to the sudden detonation of energy all around him. What little of the puppeteer still had the sense of touch burned in pain whilst he tried stomach the whole awful experience.

'_To whomever it was that allowed me to graduate early and avoid this excruciating ordeal on a regular basis, I offer my highest thanks_.'

Even his few short months at the ninja academy when he was five years old had been utterly overwhelming. Never mind what some someone of his 'gifts' would have to deal with from teachers who had no idea why on earth the child was reading texts about puppetry and medical repurposing of the human body of all things when the class was supposed to be going over the standard one-hundred-fifty rules of the shinobi code. Yes, Akakonoha no Madarahad been quiteastrange little five year old indeed.

"CHIBI-SAAAN!" called someone from below.

The blond suppressed the urge to roll an onyx eye as he slid down from the rain worn rooftop with ease and landed softly on the cemented sidewalk. The pair then began walking at a calmed pace along the sparsely populated street.

"Don't call me that," came a murmur only audible to the Uzumaki. "I am _not _a toddler. If you must refer to me by some nickname simply use 'Aka-san' or 'Akakonoha-san'. I was given the title for a reason you know. And you were late by eight minutes fifty-two seconds. _Again_." The third time in the last three days to be exact.

"But it was Iruka-sensei's fault!" whined Naruto, "He kept me, Choji, Shikamaru and Kiba after class to do this dumb leaf exercise 'cuz he thought we weren't paying attention."

"I don't care whose fault it was. Regardless you were late and my patience has limits," continued the younger blond.

"I know, I know. And I promise I'll be on time tomorrow-"

However the jinchuuriki's voice tailed off as his cerulean eyes suddenly snagged on whatever it was chibi-sa-no, Aka-san had pulled from the pocket of his sky blue wind breaker. It was an average ryou coin nothing special, but it was what the coin had begun to do that was so fascinating. Balanced perfectly on his finger the coin seemed to spin of its own accord not wavering for a moment and giving off a light whirring sound. Without stopping the spiraling object the younger blond then tossed it to the Uzumaki.

"The leaf exercise requires too little chakra to be of any use to you. Other tasks such as rotating a coin without touchingit or cutting leaves would be more useful if you wish to become Hokage so badly," elaborated the child.

The Uzumaki gave a nod, pausing to try the exercise before continuing after Madara down a shopping district into a warmly painted shinobi weaponry store.

The inside the small shop hung the scent a freshly polished steel and the faint chill of an early winter breeze through the open windows. Despite its purpose the store was very light, airy, clean and above else organized. Blank scrolls were lined up side-to-side neatly above standard ninja mesh and several dozen bottles of chakra sensitive ink. To the left below a large window was a glass enclosed case to where a young girl had pulled up a stool and the cash register. Complimenting her oriental styled clothing she wore her pin straight hair in two high buns, her ninja hitai-itetiedin the traditional manner upon her forehead. Her chocolate brown eyes swiveled a sideways glace through her peripheral vision as she noticed the two customers who had entered her place of employment. In a flash she was at the door frazzling Madara's somewhat unkempt spiky hair.

"Madara-sensei, I thought you had suffocated to death under a pile of the treasurer's files! Where've you been?" she said happily.

The child quickly pushed away the girl's hand from his pale blond hair in the usual manner one would greet a good friend who was currently annoying the living daylights out of him. "Good afternoon Tenten. As to my where abouts, may the department of financing burn to the ground for all of their bloody paperwork. Their new assistants spilled ink and corrective fluid over the village's most recent census data. I only finished completely rewriting the files this afternoon, a whole month of work _**wasted**_," he toned emotionlessly with an edge of satire leaking through. "And how have things been with you?"

The brunette tapped her hitai-ite. "Aside from training not much has happened since the graduation test. Though my teammates are a bit odd to say the least."

"Who's on your team?" interrupted Naruto.

"Oh I'm sorry," said the Genin uncertainly only now taking notice of the academy student who had arrived with her teacher, "I'm Tenten, and you are?"

Naruto's face lit up like a jack-o-lantern in the fall. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto and I'm going to become the next Hokage! BELIEVE IT!-"

_**WHAP!**_

The Uzumaki crashed to the floor rubbing his skull and muttering curses as he looked up at Madara who without warning had beamed him over the head with his messenger bag.

"No one will ever take you seriously until you stop spouting nonsensical bullshit and actually take your education seriously," said the puppeteer remorselessly.

The girl, Tenten, lent him an apologetic smile and offered a hand up.

"Sorry Naruto, but Sensei's rarely wrong. He is a prodigy after all_,_" she whispered to the jinchuuriki. Naruto grasped her outstretched hand as he pulled himself up still wobbling from the unexpected barrage. His mind presently began wondering about the new information he had just been presented. So not only was Akakonoha-san a ninja, but apparently a child genius like the Uchiha he always heard so much about from gossiping adults. That also definitely explained why the nine year old seemed to know a lot more then he was letting on about a variety of things.

"So who are your squad mates anyway?" repeated the elder blond.

"Hyuga Neji and Rock Lee," Tenten replied warmly, "And our teacher is Maito Gai."

Naruto shivered. He remembered the spandex-clad ninja from a dismally failed prank (paint his evil uniform orange). Upon Gai's discovery of the suit Naruto had received the most disturbing speech about 'youth' he had ever heard. Lesson learned, stay as far away from Maito Gai as physically possible. Preferably another continent if such option was available.

"I'm really really sorry."

The girl sweat-dropped, "Funny…That's what Iruka-sensei told us before giving us our team assignment." She now spun to face the younger blond.

"Madara-sensei! While you're here would you mind checking over my storage scroll arrays? I compared them to the texts, but something's off. They're sitting on the back table."

"Certainly," said the younger blond blankly.

"Hey Tenten, you said Aka-san is your teacher right?" questioned Naruto quietly as watched the puppeteer scribble corrections onto the scrolls.

"Yeah he's been tutoring me about the sealing arts for two years. Why?"

"What is sealing anyway?"

Tenten stared at the Uzumaki fora moment. Hadn't he paid attention at all during academy lectures? "Sealing is one of the most complicated varieties of ninjutsu a ninja can learn," explained the girl expertly. "Masters of sealing use common materials, usually ink and paper, to create complicated arrays and diagrams with their chakra. To be proficient at it you need to know tons on sealing theory, but once you master it the possibilities of your sealing are almost limitless. However, Seals masters are few and far between in Konoha. The last well known one was Jiraiya of the sannin. Not counting sensei anyway. "

Naruto cast the girl an even more confused look. "But if the last really good one was a sannin, who taught Aka-san?"

"He taught _himself_."

"What does this sealing stuff look like anyway? If Aka-san learned it all by himself it can't be that hard," disputed the blond.

This might have been the single moment Tenten appreciated being placed on a team with the annoyance that was Rock Lee. It took all her restraint not to clobber the dobe then and there.

Consequently said dobe found a textbook plopped in his lap.

"Here Naruto," an evil smile played at the girl's lips, "If you think sealing is so easy why don't try it? I'll be expecting a three pronged explosive seal in an hour. If you give up I will be over by Madara-sensei."

The blond gazed in confusion at the girl before cracking open the tome to the first chapter, _Chakra Containment Theory & Concepts_. This wouldn't be so hard! Right?

* * *

Wrong. Dead wrong.

"Tenten, that was a ridiculous expectation to place on him," scolded Madara whilst carefully eyeing his student make corrections to her current assignment.

She smiled, "Sorry sensei. I just thought a good reality check might teach Naruto some manners. 'Guess I got a little carried away though, huh?-"

The girl paused from her work now snickering at the flabbergasted expression on the Uzumaki's face as he repeatedly smacked his blond head against the sealing text in frustration.

"-But that wasn't fair of me. It takes me about three hours to make a proper explosive note, let alone a three pronged one. I promise I won't lose my temper in the future."

"Perhaps," her teacher mused, "However I suspect that this may become a good incentive for him."

"How so?"

"Naruto's goal of becoming Hokage is currently unattainable partially due to his belief that by learning some advanced jutsu from a nonexistent source that he can become the head ninja. It's possible that your challenge may put his dream into a more realistic perspective."

The girl gave a shrug, "That's very insightful Madara-sensei, but maybe you should explain that to him before that book gets ruined by his head-banging."

"Interesting observation, I'll see to that immediately."

* * *

In the forty minutes since Tenten's contest had begun Uzumaki Naruto had quickly come to a very solemn conclusion.

Sealing sucked and should be condemned to the depths of hell from which it had originated.

To further prove his theory the blond now a throbbing headache and had dented the cover of the thrice damned textbook. Naruto rubbed his temples. There was absolutely no way he would be able to read this gigantic book in only twenty minutes and still have time to make the special seal Tenten had requested.

'_Damn it!'_ he shouted internally.

It was during this mental cursing that he heard a slight tap on the sealing tome asking in polite silence for the Uzumaki to _please_ **pay attention**.

"Naruto, what are you doing," Madara asked as more of a statement than a question.

His only reply was an intelligible mutter.

"Naruto are you paying attention?"

"…What?"

The young blond sighed internally deeply regretting what he was about to say.

"That Ramen shop you are so fond of is a five minute walk from here considering the lack of foot traffic, yes?"

The Uzumaki's ears perked up instantly alert, "You mean Ichiraku Ramen? It's the best ramen in the whole world!"

His impassive expression recovered Madara continued, "So I've heard repeatedly; although I prefer white tea…"

Narutostaredat the blond wide-eyed, "_You_. **Don't**. Love. Ramen?"

Now for the piece de la resistance, "No, it tastes far too salty to me."

"Then it's settled, you _need_ to go to Ichiraku's _now_!"

From across the room Tenten could barely restrain herself from bursting into laughter at her teacher's expense. However Madara's verbal trap had proved highly effective, by now Naruto had totally forgotten about her little challenge and was literally trying to drag an irritated Madara out the weaponry door.

"I hope you have fun sensei!" she called a little too cheerfully after him.

Madara shot a particularly venomous glare. If looks could kill she'd be six feet under by now. "_I'm still _technically _an active Anbu operative_," the blond hissed, "_Fun _is all but prohibited."

"That's not good for your mental health," Tenten teased.

"Screw mental health. I doubt I had any to begin with," he whispered darkly before he finally lost his grip on the door frame subsequently losing the tug-of-war with the Kyuubi jinchuuriki.

Tenten waved after the blonds. Sometimes Madara-sensei could be so childish. Her smile fell as the pair disappeared around a corner. If only this false peace could last…

* * *

Akakonoha no Madara stared indifferently at the heaping bowl of Miso ramen before him. On the next stool over Uzumaki Naruto gazed expectantly at the younger blond, his own bowl already emptied.

"Well…Are you going to try it or what?" he finally exclaimed.

Madara momentarily glanced at the Uzumaki. The red edge on his aura fizzled and sparked with impatience.

"Is this truly necessary?" he monotoned. It was no use hiding that the blond didn't particularly like ramen very much. It lacked the sweetness and natural caffeine of white tea as well as the overall warmth of inarizushi. Not to mention how much over salting and bland taste the 'absolutely amazing' ramen usually contained.

Naruto slammed a fist down on the stores counter, "Of course this is necessary! So try some before it gets cold, damn it!"

This earned another skeptical look as the younger blond, after nearly ten minutes of stalling, _finally _picked up his chopsticks preparing to take a reluctant bite of the dish.

"Hold it Aka-san," interrupted the Uzumaki, "It's rude to wear gloves when eating ramen."

Okay, now he was just making things up.

"No."

"Yes!" the elder blond pleaded.

"**No**."

"Aka-saaaan!" he whined.

"**No**."

Naruto crossed his arms in irritability and exasperation, "Aka-san you're dishonoring the ramen. Think of the poor ramen."

The child blinked. Did he really just say…?

"No," he recovered quickly, "And I'm not negotiating on this."

"Why?" exclaimed the blond, "It's not like taking them off will kill you or anything!"

"It might," replied the child quietly as he picked at his ramennoodles with his chopsticks.

The blond's loud exuberance was suddenly silenced under waves of confusion, "W-what do you mean?"

Madara allowed his grip on the utensils to relax allowing them to slide into the untouched broth. When he spoke it was a whisper edged with an invisible sorrow. "You have learned of what happens to those with physical disabilities who try to become ninja, no?" Narutoanswered with a slow shake of his head.

"I guessed as much. The Konoha elders wouldn't want the loyalty of their shinobi to be weakened at the cost of the truth. Have you ever met a ninja missing a limb due to natural causes or one of the five senses perhaps?" Another head shake. "It is the single greatest flaw in Konoha's military. Of the hundred or so abnormal children who enter the academy, the blind, the deaf, et cetera; two-thirds fail the entrance exam due to their irregularities. Now of the one-third who either cheated or got lucky, half are removed over an extended time span for similar reasons why so many failed the entrance exam. Some can't see a target in front of them, others can't use taijutsu because they're missing a limb, you get the idea. Of the approximately fifteen students, one-sixth of the hundred who started, another half is given failing scores on the graduation exam. Only seven of these children become Genin, 0.07 percent."

"But they made it!" argued Naruto, "They succeeded even though everyone put them down and said they couldn't do it. They must become those amazing ninja teachers always talk about-"

"-Wrong," Madara continued, "Those seven Genin who passed are given _Shi _missions for the first…and usually last…year of their shinobi career. These are missions suited for specialized Jounin squads, not fresh Genin. They have no hope of accomplishing the assigned tasks, let alone surviving them. Almost always those seven Genin are dead within a week. This cycle repeats sometimes decades before one of these abnormal children make it through the cycle of death. One among thousands the government deems unfit to be ninja. It has been this way since Konohagakure was founded."

Naruto sat dumbfounded. How could 'the old man' he knew…all of the village leaders…how could they do something so cruel? The jinchuuriki shivered with horror.

His jaw trembled, "W-what does that haveto with your hands Aka-san?"

The child now sat in silence fingers interwoven, "It was purely chance that I managed to slip through the cracks in the system. I don't desire to tempt my fate."

"Huh? I still don't understand."

"My arms and legs...are not of flesh. These ones I use are formed of a chakra compatible metal."

There was an awkward silence as the gravity of this information fully dawned on Naruto.

"Uzumaki Naruto," questioned the child, "If you tell this to anyone else, I will have to bind your memories of ever meeting me. Can you keep this secret?"

The blond stared into his empty ramenbowl deep in thought giving a quiet nod after a moment.

"ummm Aka-san...Does this mean I can get another bowl of ramen?"

Cue face-palm.

* * *

**{Writing dobe-Naruto is so fun. X3 Now on with chapter notes-**

**The Academy secret**: As we've seen in the Uchiha massacre, multiple ninja wars, biased civilians & ninja and in Danzo's 'Root'; Konohaisn't the peace loving little village everyone seems to think it is. And frankly have you ever counted the number of leaf ninja lacking a sense or limb? The only one I could find on Naru-pedia was the blind proctor from the Chunin Exams and he wasn't the nicest guy in the world. Considering Danzoand the village elders' militaristic ideals this sounds like something they might support to eliminate potential weaknesses in their village. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!

**Naruto: **Yes, Naruto is still the idiot we all (sort of) love; however I seriously doubt Madara and Tenten will lethim remain that way for long. In regards to the secrethe now knows...well, the most I can say without giving away _big_spoilers for the next chapter is that 'skipping school has unforseen consequences if your Naruto'.. *evil cackle*

**Madara (rant): **No before you even ask he _is not _a **marysue**. His skills are mainly sealing, puppeteering, genjutsu, and a certain forbidden jutsu, _-deletes this spoiler- _as well as the basics. His ultimate weakness? Definately hand-to-hand combat. His prosthetic limbs, age, and height make this extremely difficult for Madara.

**Tenten: -'**Why did Madara pick her as a student? She gets almost no parts in the manga/anime!'- Yeah well this isn't canon. This part was actually inspired by the Anime's interpretation of Tenten vs. Temari. I always wondered who taught Tenten about sealing if Maito Gai is a taijutsu specialist.. *thumbs up pose*

**You know the golden cycle! Reviews = sooner chapters = happy readers = happy author. So review!}**


	4. Chapter four:Planting the Seeds of Doubt

**{ ****Disclaimers are annoying. I shall not post them in the future, or if I do they will probably be odd, i.e. 'I don't own Naruto because the manga is being utterly suckish right now. Danzo's flashbacks are boring**.' Also...17 story alerts, 13 favorites and... 9 reviews ...suspicious! *shifty eyes*}

.: Nireiki :.

-.: Chapter four :: Planting the Seeds of Doubt :.-

-.: Sheet lightning {noun} lightning appearing merely as a general illumination over a broad surface, usually due to the reflection of the lightning of a distant thunderstorm :.-

Naruto could still remember that day eight years ago exactly when he had finally mustered the courage to ask matron-sama, the head of the orphanage, what a birthday was. Her sharp response was as he expected, "Children should be seen and not heard." But he would not give up and proceeded to harass the elderly woman for the rest of the day with the question until she finally relented. So in the context of an irritated lecture he learned what a birthday was. It was a celebration of friends and family in honor the day you were born. Today, the Kyuubi festival day, was his birthday. However, his only friend was the Hokage who visited him every few months. He had never known his family or even their names. There was no one to celebrate his birth. In fact, the villagers seemed particularly violent on the day honoring the sacrifice made by the fourth Hokage.

In the present Naruto felt the same way he did that day as he stared out an academy window; frustrated.  
None of his classmates had bothered to remember that today was the blond's birthday. They never did, aside from Hinata stuttering more than usual.

As customary of a school day Iruka-sensei was lecturing about something again. Naruto wasn't really sure what it was about this time. It was pointless to listen when he had never learned of battles and military techniques Iruka mentioned.  
His hands clenched in aggravation. How was he supposed to gain knowledge of the ninja world if Iruka-sensei and the other teachers had never taught him the basics? It was only thanks to his constant questioning of Aka-san that Naruto learned anything at all.

"Naruto."

His blond head instantly turned from the window in surprise, "Heh…Hi sensei."

"Would you mind repeating for the class what I just said?"

"Umm," the blond pondered, "It was something about the ninja wars?"

From the front row a hand shot up, "You were talking about using historical battle scenarios to form strategy Iruka-sensei."

The teacher frowned, "That's correct Sakura, but I was asking Naruto."

The rosette frowned as well and shot Naruto a death glare. How dare he make her look stupid in front of Sasuke?

"Next time pay a little more attention to the lesson and a bit less to the window," the teacher reprimanded.

Naruto gave an apologetic smile to the teacher before the lecture resumed where it had left off. The blond's smile faded instantly. Since he had started talking to Madara the certain stability of his world began to shift. It had slowly begun to dawn on him that the world wasn't full of kind people like the ramen chefs. Besides Ayame, her father, the Hokage (maybe), and Madara…Naruto was on his own.

Beside Naruto his desk mate Shikamaru whispered in careless tone, "Guess our row will get the lowest average again. Troublesome."

"What do you mean?" the blond questioned.

"Well," the lazy genius drawled sleepily, "You obviously are going to fail the upcoming exams, meaning that our row will have to do extra practice again."

"Like you could talk, your scores are barely better than mine."

"Studying would be troublesome."

"Lazy-ass."

"Dead last."

Naruto paused a moment to think of a proper insult, but by then Shikamaru was already asleep once more. The lowest ranking students in the class never had gotten along very well in the first place.

The blond fidgeted with his notebook in annoyance. He could never quite tell whose side the lazy genius was on. Unlike the other academy students Shikamaru spoke to him on occasion although a large amount of their conversations ended in insults. Shikamaru also played Shogi with him at lunch the few days a month Chojiwas absent; however, these infrequent occasions were rare.

"Shikamaru wake up," Naruto grumbled.

His reply was met by an annoyed mutter, "What do you want?"

"What the hell is sensei talking going on about anyway? How does stuff that already happened have anything to do with strategy?"  
Shikamaru rolled his eyes in wonderment at how his classmate could be so stupid, "By studying strategies that worked before you can be better prepared for unknown situations in the field. Just now senseiwas droning on about the Shodai Hokage's use of natural geography when he confronted Madara-"

"Wait a second!" interrupted Naruto in confusion, "Who's this Madara person?" There was absolutely no way that Aka-san could have fought the first Hokage. He'd have to be like a hundred years old!

"Shut up for a minute so I can explain. Uchiha Madara was a leader of the Uchiha clan and co-founder of Konoha. He was probably the one of the strongest shinobi who ever lived.-"

"So why the founders fight if they-"

"I'm getting to that part! After the village was founded Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara started to argue over should be the first Hokage. When the village elected Hashirama, Madara was convinced that the Senju would domineer over the Uchiha clan so he left the village. When Hashirama found out he followed Madara to border and they fought. No one's totally sure what happened, but the history books definitely say Madara died in the battle."

Naruto mentally sighed with relief. If this Uchiha guy was dead that definitely meant Aka-san wasn't him; however, the blond still felt extremely uneasy. Who would purposefully name their child after a long dead traitor?

"So then what ha-?"

"If you want know more about Uchiha Madara," cut in Shikamaru, "Go bug Shino or something. I'm done playing teacher." And with that perhaps the first time Naruto ever actually learned something in class was called on account of a nap. Lazy bastard.

However he did have a possible lead, the creepy kid with sunglasses who always sat in the back corner. Aburame Shino was it?-

"Naruto!" exploded Iruka, his signature big head no jutsu blazing angry glares into the back row. "You're staying after school for not listening during class AGAIN!"

"But sensei I have to meet someone after school today!" complained Naruto. Aka-san would be furious if he was late again. Madara _hated_ waiting or making others wait.

"You should have considered that before."

"Damn it!"

"That's double detentions for cursing Naruto!"

* * *

As accustomed of job the Sandaime Hokage had received requests for psychological assessments for potentially unstable ninja several times before, especially since the Uchiha massacre. Some people were still afraid that their slightly off-kilter squad mate just might pull an Uchiha Itachion them. That's were the problem had began. Fear. Ever since the massacre unquestioningly loyal Anbu were under suspicion. If Itachi, Anbu captain at the age of thirteen and above all else loyal to the village, could so quickly turn against them what about the rest of Anbu?

So the tests had begun. Every agent had been examined and re-exmined by the Torture and Iinterrogation department and sorted onto or off of the lists; safe, plausible, and those suspected of treason. Only three names had made it onto the final 'treason' list. All of the members of Kakashi's former Genin squad. The three prodigies who had jumped through the ranks to Anbu a bit too quickly to be a coincidence.

They were interrogated at knife point about their true loyalties. The village elders wanted them to be excecuted as soon as possible.

But that wasn't the worst of the whole mess. Kakashi had admitted to the Hokage that he didn't trust former students. Not right now

anyway. And the three suspected Anbu had heard every word.

After no evidence could be found against them a formal apology had been issued and their names pardoned. But in the eyes of Akakonoha no Madara, Akiyama Indigo, and Hyuuga Kalori, Kakashi could never be trusted with anything ever again. He had betrayed them and someday he was going to pay for it.

* * *

Kurenai eyed the child curiously, "Akakonoha-san…What exactly are you doing?"

The genjutsu mistress had had many…strange…days on the job. This was definitely one of them. Today in particular she, Anko and Asuma had been given a relatively simple mission. Keep an eye on the Hokage's assistant while the lord Hokage and the T & I captains reviewed Madara's psyche assessment. What she didn't understand why such an easy mission had been ranked so high, A-rank in fact.

The child rolled his eyes at her comment, "Merely finishing re-sealing up my office of course. I rarely have any spare time these days considering all the extra work I have to pick up from everyone else in the administration."

"But why would you need to re-seal your office?" she protested, "You're only nine-"

"Ten in December," Madara corrected.

Kurenai barely suppressed a sarcastic remark, "Anyway, the seals aren't necessary. They're just a waste of chakra."

"Wrong Yuuhi-san," the child retorted. "Despite my age there are quite a number of people on the village council-as well as elite Jounin- who would be quite pleased if I were to meet a rather untimely end. Seals are also rather useful in keeping out irritating subordinates." His explanation over, the child now returned to setting up the complicated sealing arrays.

Kurenai opened her mouth to object but was immediately silenced by her companion.

"Okay I understand why the interns and most of the treasury department is included on there," commented Asuma, "But why's Kakashi on the list?"

"Simple," replied the child, "Because he's an annoying prick."

Asuma and Anko could barely container their pent up laughter while Kurenai shot the child a particularly venomous glare.

"Kind of harsh on your former squad leader," snickered Anko. "Kakashi only headed your team…for what, a year or two? We're still in your good graces right?"

As for an answer Madara only cast the trio a contemplative glance before knotting the final row of characters in his sealing diagram. The door-frame of the small room became illuminated with a phosphorescent glow as the characters sank into the building's structure via Madara's chakra and took effect manipulating the invisible boundary within the environment with ease. Kurenai shivered as the air around grew unbearably cold, suddenly relieved of the unconscious energy she was emitting- her aura. Madara smiled seemingly pleased that the seals were functioning properly and entered his office.

"I'm starting to see why none of the other Jounin offered to take this mission," grumbled Kurenai as she followed their charge from a distance.

Anko let out a soft snicker, "Are you kidding? Compared to what the little gaki puts me through as his neighbor this mission's a cake walk. We're just lucky someone remembered to give him some caffeine earlier. He's _really_ bitchy when he hasn't had any."

Asuma took this as an invitation to explain.

"As you could probably tell Akakonoha-san doesn't like other people interfering in his line work. Technically he outranks most us, but few seem to take him seriously because of his age. Although 'Hokage's assistant' is mostly desk-work it's still an Anbu only position. Only active Anbu like him are allowed to keep the job. No one except the Hokage and village elders are entirely sure how Akakonoha-san was appointed; however, one time the kid told me that his loyalty was questioned a while back so maybe it's a matter of internal affairs."

Anko nodded in agreement, "Whatever the reason you need to stay on your toes when you're around him. Aka-san isn't someone you should take lightly even though he's still just a kid."

Before Kurenai could question either of the two further her gaze was met by a pair of emotionless coal black eyes.

"Are you three going to chatter about my private matters all afternoon?" asked Madara. "I don't know how flue-sama expects me to get anything accomplished while babysitting you three at the same time."

The trio quickly angrily hurried after their charge. Who the hell posted this as an A-Rank mission?

* * *

**{I'm splitting this chapter into two so it flows better. By my calculations I now owe you...four more belated chapters. *headdesk*}**


	5. UPDATE

**UPDATES on Each Story's Status****- This will be blanket posted on all of the stories mentioned before they are deleted/rewritten/Hiatus'd.**

Right now I'm busy going through all of my stories to see what could/should be continued/rewritten, or scrapped. If there is a story you would like me to continue please review or message me about it. Without feedback I don't know if anyone actually reads or likes my stories.

Nireiki, or as I plan to rename it, Half-Life is staying, but is being rewritten. I feel like I left a lot of missed opertunities to expand Madara and Naruto as well as the story arcs. Before I begin posting the rewrite though, I plan to fully map out several of the plot arcs and make sketchs for the middle and end. (Usually I write by the seat of my pants so this may take a while...)

So far, I plan to put Beginnings on a permanent hiatus. I haven't touched it in years and have found irresolvable problems with it during re-reading. It has a very weak plot (if any), suffers from OC overload, and has an abundence of OOCness in the few canon characters in it. Considering how horrible it is, I'm really surprised that I keep getting favorites, alerts, and reviews for it.

Walls of Ivy is also slated for a permanent hiatus; however, my reasoning behind this is a bit different. While it also suffers from an abundance of OCs, the plot is salvageable and parts of it are being reworked into the Nireiki/Half-Life rewrite. Despite its flaws I really like the wartime setting and want to write more from Taree's perspective.

Rhapsody is also going to reworked into Nireiki/Half-Life. This is mainly due to the murder/mystery and horror elements that I had planned for the its main arc, but never got around to writing. Some problems I had with this were the overly slow plot development and abundance of OCs too early in the story. Taru's character seems kind of bland and could be better expanded in a different context.

Unlike its predecessor Permafrost, I plan to keep Frozen. I do plan to shift from my original plotline though. Since I only ever posted the first chapter of Frozen, it can easily be rewritten without needing to be reposted. I really like how the first chapter came out and don't plan to rewrite it. It may be a while before I start updates on this though, due to the massive restructuring of the plot and Kishimoto unveiling Kabuto's screwed up past.

In other news I've had a oneshot in the works for a few months featuring Tobi and Sakura. It's fairly close to canon and is firmly in the horror category. It will probably be posted within a month or two. It's tentatively titled "Descendant."


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